No Yuzvendra Chahal Or Bhuvneshwar Kumar! Ajinkya Rahane Picks His Top Five IPL Bowlers

Star India batter Ajinkya Rahane has picked ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah and Sunil Narine among his top five bowlers in the Indian Premier League, with no mention of star spinner Yuzvendra Chahal or Bhuvneshwar Kumar, two of the highest wicket-takers in the history of the tournament.

Rahane appeared on AB de Villiers’ YouTube channel. He first picked Bumrah. The latter has played 145 matches and has bagged 183 wickets at an average of 22. Bumrah also has an impressive economy of 7.24 and is the sixth-highest wicket-taker in the tournament.

Rahane then chose the Mumbai Indians and all-time great Lasith Malinga as the second pacer. The former Sri Lankan pacer featured in 122 matches and picked up 170 wickets. He had an economy of 7.14 and an average

of 19.79.

Rahane then picked another Mumbai Indians pacer in Trent Boult. He has 143 scalps from 120 matches. The former said that he went for Boult for his ability to pick up wickets at the top. Boult has an economy of 8.37 and an average of 26.2.

“Boult has a record of bowling the first over and picking up wickets. It’s right up there. For me, I always look at someone who can pick wickets. So Boult with the new ball, Malinga and Bumrah in the end and you have the middle overs covered with Sunil and Varun,” Rahane said.

Narine is among the top wicket-takers in the league with 192 wickets from 189 games. He is the only bowler from the top three that Rahane chose. He has an economy of 6.79 and an average of 25.63.

Chakravarthy has 100 Indian Premier League wickets from 84 matches.

Rahane, who has played for the Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Rising Pune Supergiants and the Rajasthan Royals, has scored 5032 runs in 183 matches, at a strike rate of 125 with two hundreds to his name. He was last seen in action in IPL 2025, where he scored 390 runs in 12 matches at a strike rate of 147.72.